Saylorville Lake

 We stopped for one more night on the road at a casino rv park at Osceola, IA. We had been taking our time on the back roads and missed a turn resulting in a longer day than we expected so we stopped there rather than getting into Saylorville late. 

We have been here at the lake for three weeks now. Both of us have had a bad cough and allergies or colds for most of the time here. We pretty much stay home as much as possible as we really don't feel like doing anything. 

We had the oil and antifreeze changed in the motor home and are waiting for a new fan belt and hose to be installed here at the lake. Our grandson is going to install new shock absorbers on the motor home and our son-in-law is working on repairing the Jeep air conditioner.

Nevada, MO

We stopped for the night at a ... you guessed it! Walmart in Nevada, MO. Next door is Sharkey’s Pub and Grub. They had half price appetizers until 6:00 so we picked up some brisket quesadillas, spinach artichoke dip, and fried pickles for supper. Delicious and lots of leftovers.

De Queen, AR

Stopped for the night at the Walmart in De Queen, AR. We stopped for fuel and propane at a Flying J near Shreveport, LA and spent a lot of time there helping a lady who had locked her keys in her motor home in one of the truck fueling lanes and having lunch at Denny’s. Should have a scenic drive through western Arkansas tomorrow.

Nacogdoches, TX

We left the San Bernard NWR this morning to head up to DesMoines, IA. We enjoyed our work and accomplishments there over the winter and leaving the rangers and coworkers there was like leaving good friends. We left there a little after ten and stopped in town to say goodbye to the people at the quilt shop. We had a good day and stopped to overnight at the Walmart in Nacogdoches, TX. 

A Trip to Sargent

Last Friday we drove down to Sargent, TX, a little town near here on the Gulf. They recently built this bridge to replace the old swing bridge that they had to open to let barges pass through on the inland waterway. Last time we went down there it was still under construction, but now it is open so we crossed on it. There is a spiral ramp going up and down again on the other side.

The view from the top looking down on the inland waterway and you can see the Gulf on the right.

We stopped here for gas and lunch. Very interesting place...gas station, groceries, auto parts, hardware, lumbar yard, green house, and restaurant. The food was very good though!

Around the Refuge

My fellow volunteer, Kent, putting the finishing touches on our second replacement kiosk that we built.

We had to move this sign to here from a location abut a quarter of a mile from the road.

The office building here has a light that stays on at night and attracts quite a collection of moths.

Spyder lilies growing near the pond here.

One of the refuge trails near Lake Jackson had a small parking lot that was not large enough, so Kent and I were given the task of expanding it. We built a board fence arount the addition and leveled four truck loads of gravel to fill in low spots in the old and new areas.

 

The finished parking lot.

One day, instead of the usual alligator resting on this dock, a large diamond back water snake was sunning itself. 

After finishing the other parking lot, they gave us the task of fencing another one at a different trail.

One of the little lizards here.

Not sure what the name of this flower is, but there are several of them bloomiing around here.

This is a sign from the cemetery for the church that we attend in Brazoria. The parish of this church was the first parish established in Texas. 

We are finishing our last week of work here and plan on leaving for Des Moines on Monday.

Cold Spell Gone

 We had a few nights of 18 degree weather a couple of weeks ago. This was an unusual event for this part of Texas. It was accompanied by a few days of power outages. This wouldn't have been a problem up home, but here the water pipes are not buried very deep or insulated. We did some last minute preparation on the refuge plumbing but still ended up with some broken pipes in a couple of the buildings. We had our fresh water tank full in the motorhome and ran the generator for a few days until power came back on to stay, so we were luckier than many people in their houses.

The refuge had a couple of kiosks like this for posting informative signs. They were getting old a rotten and Kent and I were given the task of removing and replacing them. A few days work for each 

A few days work for each of them and this is what the new ones looked like.

Last Saturday we went out to some garage sales and ended up in Angleton, TX at lunch time. We tried out a Mexican restaurant there that we hadn't been to before. Food and service was great and I would highly recommend La Cosona. 

We have a couple of small alligators who live in the pond by the entrance gate here. Sometimes one or the other of them hang out on the dock.

There is another pond behind the shop here. We sometimes see a large alligator in here, but on this day we saw turtles!

A closer look. They looked to be about 3 foot across. The bright green on their backs is algae from the surface of the water. 

Driving around the refuge, we can usually find a few of these big fellows.

This area usually has a bunch of small ones like these.

Can you see the little ones here?

We watched the little ones for awhile and then the mom stuck her head out of the culvert.